1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to compositions of matter and methods of producing the same. More particularly, the present invention relates to stable OH.sub.3.sup.+ salts and methods of producing such salts by protonation of water from wet HF.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Hydrogen fluoride (FH) is widely used as a very good, inert, solvent. However, if the HF becomes wet, the water contained therein often tends to hydrolize the intended compounds. This destroys the compounds, sometimes with explosive results.
Numberous methods have been proposed heretofore for removing water from HF. Thus, it is known to react on alkali metal fluoride with HF to form the corresponding bifluoride, dry the bifluoride and pyrolize the biflouride to recover dry FH. Similarly, it has been known to remove water from HF electrolytically, using alternating current. Moreover, it has been known to treat HF with high pressure fluorine to remove water from the HF. Unfortunately, all of these prior art methods of removing water from HF are complicated, timeconsuming and expensive. Furthermore, the latter method requires handling of gaseous fluorine under pressure which is quite hazardous to undertake.